vicinità

Forms

vicinità f (invariable)^[1] Old forms are Old Italian vicinitade and Old Italian vicinitate.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is a learned word: it is borrowed from Latin vicinitas (“nearness, neighbourhood”).^[3][2][4][5] The Latin noun is formed from vicinus (“near, neighbouring”) with the suffix -tās.^[6][1] The adjective first meant “of the same village”, from vicus (“village, quarter”).^[7] Wiktionary allows that the Italian word may also have been formed from vicino with -ità.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded in the 14th century, first before 1328, in the sense “nearness, proximity”.^[3][4][5] The Giustino translation speaks of “the very nearness of Sicily and Italy” (la vicinità stessa di Sicilia e di Italia).^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was used of the nearness of places, countries and heavenly bodies, as when Landino's Pliny places Mars beside the Sun, and of political neighbours, as in Guicciardini.^[8] Tommaseo already marked it as uncommon, with Latin vicinitas behind it.^[9] Zingarelli also gives a figurative sense, “affinity, resemblance”.^[3]

Today it is rare or obsolete, and vicinanza is used instead.^[4][10][11]

Timeline

• Before 1328 – The word is first recorded.^[3]
• 1861 – Tommaseo marks it as uncommon.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, literary) nearness, proximity; the same as vicinanza.^{[4][5][11][10]}
2. (obsolete) affinity, resemblance.^[3]

Related words

• vicino
• vicinanza
• vicinato
• Latin vicinitas
• Latin vicinus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 21, 852
9. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli